"Printer" against "Landromat"

Deputies with the filing of Alexander Lebedev discussed the fight against illegal financial practices

On February 21, a peculiar literary debate was held in the State Duma on the books of our colleague Alexander Lebedev. Having read his bestsellers “Hunting for the banker” and “The pursuit of stolen trillion”, parliamentarians decided to hold a round table “On the state policy to combat unscrupulous financial practices and the return of capital illegally withdrawn from Russia”. In the hall on the 15th, the highest floor of the State Duma building, the apple had nowhere to fall: deputies and senators, representatives of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, the tax service, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, banking agencies, banking experts, financial market experts from academic institutions-in a word, all who are sorting out in this topic were gathered.

Lebedev as the main speaker brought the numbers that amaze imagination:

From 1994 to 2018, 861 billion 700 million US dollars was withdrawn from the country. This is not secret information - it is on the official website of the Central Bank.

If you add to this yet, the data for 2018 (according to preliminary calculations, this is $ 67 billion), you will get about $ 930 billion. That is, the amount is two times more than the “corn” of the Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves, three times more than the revenue part of the state budget for the current year and fourteen (!) Times more funds of the National Welfare Fund, from which, in theory, in theory, in theory, according to the idea Strategic development projects in the economy and social sphere are financed. Pure export reached peak values ​​in 2014 ($ 152.1 billion), it was minimal in 2003 and 2006 - only $ 300 million. Over a quarter of a century, only in 2006 and 2007, a pure inflow of capital was recorded - 42.7 and 87.8 billion dollars, respectively.

Of course, not all bred money is “dirty”, that is, obtained as a result of illegal operations. However, according to Lebedev, a significant part of the “leakage” is the funds of customers and depositors stolen by the owners and managers of bankrupt banks and financial pyramids.

“Of the 1,200 banks, which over the past 15 years, the license was withdrawn, the vast majority were artificially reinforced, and their assets were stolen,” the speaker said. He noticed that this activity could not have taken place on such a scale if a whole system was created in the USA and Europe to launder “dirty money” from around the world. Washed capital are invested in luxury, real estate objects, are located in the largest banks and investment funds, which, thus, become accomplices in criminal schemes. According to the estimates of international monitoring organizations, there are more than $ 60 trillion in this “pool”, which is comparable to the annual GDP of the planet. And every year there is another trillion there.

Lebedev proposed to create a special interagency commission in the structure of the authorities with the participation of the Bank of Russia, the Prosecutor General, the Foreign Ministry, Rosfinmoning, the Federal Tax Service, the DIA, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, which will become the coordinating center for the return of illegally withdrawn capital. The priority task is to identify schemes for the withdrawal and laundering of capital stolen in the Russian Federation, determining the location of the defendants and stolen assets (bank accounts, property, securities). Thanks to the information received, the Prosecutor General’s Office will be able to submit requests to law enforcement agencies of other countries and make claims to foreign banks, investment funds, legal and individuals involved in the schemes for the illegal output of capital. The speaker brought the experience of the United States: under the threat of criminal prosecution, the Ministry of Justice got from the leading world banks (UBS, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, etc.), convicted of fraud and laundering, transferring more than $ 300 billion to state budget. In 2017 alone, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse paid $ 12.5 billion in the framework of extra -court settlement.

Lebedev’s idea was actively supported by Yuri Isaev, the director of the Deposit Insurance Agency, which, according to the 2008-2009, adopted in the midst of the world crisis, pays the law with the depositors of bankrupt banks and tries to recover assets stolen by their owners. According to him, since 2014, a special program has been implemented in China to return assets stolen from the banking system. In the framework of this program, which in the Middle Kingdom was christened “Hunting for the Fox”, a high -level group was created, including all relevant officials engaged in this topic. Comrades from this group managed to achieve extradition of 2 thousand 566 fugitive scammers (1283 returned to their homeland voluntarily) and recover about $ 2 billion from them.

“There is no calmly in our cemetery,” the head of the ASV stated sadly, comparing himself with the pathoanatom.

Isaev complained that the Russian security forces are late all the time and begin to move sometimes years after everything is stolen, bred, hidden and filed ten times.

In this regard, the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Sergei Shvetsov, drew attention to the need to take preventive measures and purify the professional community from unscrupulous bankers. In particular, we are talking about the so -called “black list”, where the regulator brings managers convicted of laundering and withdrawal of assets. The Bank of Russia refuses to coordinate the characters from this list when assigning to key management positions in credit institutions. True, Shvetsov himself immediately admitted that this does not interfere with the Croses from the “Black List” to work as heads of departments, even in state -owned banks, since at this level “good” is not required of the Central Bank. In addition, the beneficiaries of fraudulent schemes are often not top managers, but by the shareholders of banks who do not occupy any formal positions in the structures controlled by them at all.

The most radical measure was voiced by Vladimir Zhirinovsky. He proposed to take and introduce outbound visas, as it was in the USSR. Like, then the departure will be allowed only to trusted and honest citizens, and crooks will not be able to go abroad. However, as the relevant “organs” will distinguish crooks from respectable patriots, the permanent leader of the LDPR did not explain. Indeed, before the initiation of criminal cases against the swindlers from Interombank, Zastropombank, Bank of Moscow and the like, they were all listed as “successful entrepreneurs” and “philanthropists”, received orders, held posts in public councils at the law enforcement agencies, and met in the same State Duma and the Federation Council.

Although in recent years, the State Duma is often called the “Printer”, hinting at full depending on the executive branch, last Thursday, in fact, was made the first attempt at a fairly high state level to discuss the problem about which the New Gazeta writes for years. During the discussion, its participants many times recalled the schemes that were unraveling the “new” and the defendants in her investigations. For example, the famous Moldavian “Landromat”, through which more than $ 20 billion was washed and withdrawn from Russia. The general mood “you can’t live like that, you have to do something” supported the law enforcement officers. In Soviet times, prosecutors loved to joke: "The main thing is that during the investigative actions we would not go to ourselves." Let's hope that this will not end.

Milena Artemova, especially for "New"